1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a natural evaporation humidifier having a water reservoir or a container, a plurality of filters, and a plurality of tunnels, naturally delivering moisture into the air in low humidity environments by using natural diffusion process of water molecule when the environment is at low humidity level.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Forced evaporation humidifiers powered by electricity, such as steam humidifier, impeller humidifier and ultrasonic humidifier, have been generally used in houses, offices and hospitals in order to increase humidity or moisture in a room and to achieve the desired humidity ranges. Most of the forced-evaporation humidifiers are operated by one of the following methods: 1) boiling water with electronic heating coils, releasing steam and moisture into the air; 2) using a device vibrating at an ultrasonic frequency, creating water droplets that silently exit a humidifier in the form of a cool fog; 3) using a rotating disc, flinging water at a diffuser, which breaks the water into fine droplets that float into the air; or 4) using a fan operated by a motor, blowing air onto a filter or wick to aid in the evaporation of water.
However, the forced evaporation humidifiers are often out of order, cause humming and other noises, and require relatively expensive maintenance, frequent inspections for cleanliness and parts condition and regular replacement of parts. These humidifiers further raise the relative humility to high levels and promote the growth of dust mites, bacteria and mold due to unnecessary use or overuse of them.
Owing to such disadvantages of the force evaporation humidifiers, natural evaporation humidifiers have become increasingly popular compared to the forced evaporation humidifiers. Natural evaporation humidifiers often make use of just a water reservoir and a filter or wick, which are usually non-commercial devices that can be assembled at little or no cost. Natural evaporation humidifiers usually work by the water in the reservoir spreading through the filter or wick by capillary action and naturally evaporating from wet filter or wick into the air in lower humidity environments. Natural evaporation humidifiers operate silently without moving parts such as fans powered by electricity, require very little maintenance and easily prevent the growth of bacteria and mold. Further, natural evaporation humidifiers do not need humidity control sensors in automatically equilibrating the humidity of a room with that of the wet filter or wick. However, such natural evaporation humidifiers have a disadvantage of decreasing of evaporation efficiency because the cool and humid air generated from evaporation from the filter or wick is unable to move downward to the floor due to the container of such natural humidifiers. Although some such natural humidifiers use a plurality of evaporation filters arranged in relation to each other in order to increase the evaporation areas, they are still incapable of increasing humidity because the cool and humid air is not allowed to move downward through the space between the evaporation filters and eventually becomes stagnant in the space.
In order to overcome the disadvantage of natural evaporation humidifiers, U.S. Pat. No. 7,828,275 to the inventor discloses a humidifier utilizing a plurality of evaporation filters in parallel arrangement so than air from an air source in a floor heating source passes thereover and also providing a plurality of tunnels between the evaporation filters, so that the tunnels facilitate flow of hot air from the heating source over each of the evaporation filters. The humidifier further provides a plurality of apertures, which are located above the water level of the water reservoir, on each of the front, back, and side walls of its container. These apertures facilitate enhanced diffusion of the moistened air as it exits the humidifier.
Although the humidifier of U.S. Pat. No. 7,828,275 has relatively succeeded in increasing humidity and evaporation efficiency, it has drawbacks in some respects. First, the length of its evaporation filters should be the same or less than the width of its container; thus, if the length of the filters increases for rapid and abundant evaporation, the width of container should increase as the same rate. Second, although the apertures on each of the front, back and side walls of the container assist in enhancing diffusion of the moistened air, all of the walls still obstruct the diffusion of the moistened air since the height of the walls is much higher than the height of support portions on which maximum water level of the water reservoir of the humidifier depends. Third, filing the water reservoir of the container with water is inconvenient and difficult because the space for filling water is relatively narrow and small or limited to the distance between each of the side walls and the support portions or the tunnels on the bottom of the container. Therefore, according to the humidifier, the space for filing water may expand only by decreasing the number and/or size of the support portions or the tunnels, which results in a decrease of the number of the evaporation filters. Fourth, it takes a long time to fully fill the water reservoir with water because the evaporation filters prevent water from directly passing through from one side to the other side. Last, the humidifier does not provide any useful part such as a handle in order for users to carry and place it easily and securely, especially when the water reservoir of the humidifier is fully filled with water.
Accordingly, there is a need in the art for a humidifier with a plurality of evaporation filters and tunnels that provides 1) larger length of evaporation filters than the width of its container without the need to enlarge the container, 2) the same or very similar height of walls of the container as the height of the support portions to enhance diffusion of the moistened air more effectively, and 3) useful part(s) in order for users to carry and place it easily and securely in any circumstance. In addition, there is a need in the art for a humidifier with a plurality of evaporation filters and tunnels that not only makes it easy and convenient for users to fill the water reservoir with water but also makes it very quick to fully fill the reservoir with water.